Wasp Empire
The Wasp Empire is an aggressively expansionistic monarchy located to the east of the Lowlands and the Dragonfly Commonweal and to the north of the Exalsee. The term 'Wasp Empire' refers to both the Empire's political structure and the geographic area it controls. As its name suggests, the Wasp Empire is ruled by the Wasp-kinden. History Three generations before the beginning of the series, the Wasp Empire was just a collection of barbaric Wasp-kinden clans who lived in mud forts and fought constantly among themselves. However, after they were united by their first emperor the Wasp clans became a force to be reckoned with. They began to attack and subjugate their neighbours, enslaving other kinden and absorbing their lands into their burgeoning empire. At the heart of this new empire was Capitas, once simply the first emperor's mud fort and now the centre of a rising and increasingly Apt power. The Wasp Empire expanded outwards in all directions. By the time of ''Empire in Black and Gold'''s prologue, seventeen years before the series proper, the Empire had conquered and/or assimilated at least the majority of the following cities: * Fort Watch, Fort Raid, Sa and Liev to the north, * Ahn Je, Desollen, Slodan, Jhe Lienn, Maille, Delve, Least Delve, Far Jehalian and Fortress to the east, * Vesserett, Dust Fort, Monas, Dekiez, Shalk, Tyrshaan, Mallen, and Araketka to the south, and * Skiel, Sonn, and Myna to the west. The Siege of Myna was to prove a tipping point for the Empire, for it was witnessed by a band of Sarnesh renegades and student activists from Collegium, including Stenwold Maker. Stenwold's efforts to alert the Lowlands of the threat the Empire posed, though long fruitless, would ultimately result in organised resistance. Had the Empire continued its westwards push after Myna, the Lowlands would surely have fallen. However, after conquering Szar and Maynes, the Empire instead launched a campaign of conquest against the Commonweal. Unlike the single city-states the Wasps were used to conquering, however, the Commonweal was a vast and relatively unified realm capable of fielding huge armies. The result of the Empire's invasion was the Twelve Year War, a terrible conflict which saw both sides suffer immense casualties. It was not uncommon for thousands to die in a single battle, and the first stage of the Twelve Year War saw many battles. The turning point was the Battle of Masaki, in which a small and isolated force of Bee-kinden Auxillians held out against overwhelming numbers of Dragonfly attackers after the army they were attached to was ambushed and slaughtered, occupying the Dragonflies long enough for Wasp reinforcements to arrive and rout the Commonwealers. After Masaki the Commonwealers lacked the numbers for pitched battles and the second half of the war degenerated into a drawn-out guerrilla conflict characterised by hit-and-run attacks, small ambushes and raids. Eventually the colossal loss of life forced the Commonweal monarch to sign the Treaty of Pearl, ceding three provinces to the Empire in return for cessation of hostilities. It was not the total victory the Empire had hoped for, but through the treaty it gained an enormous amount of territory and was freed from fighting an enemy they did not have the strength or will to conquer completely. Category:Organisations Category:Geography